if there were, we wouldn't have a deficit. let me give you an example. february 15th. i choose that day because that might be the day. might be a little early but it might be the day that we stop being able to mess things around. okay. the federal government on that day will take in an estimated $9 billion in revenues. again, that is mostly taxes. on the same day, $52 million will need to be paid out. we've got a shortfall of $43 billion. they need to prioritize bills on that day. they can put off others. we're not entirely sure that prioritizing payments is legal but that's probably what they will have to do. the treasury could wait until it has enough revenue on hand to cover one full day's payments and means all the bills would be paid late and we know how that storts starts to look. johnny isakson is a member of the senate finance committee. senator, thank you for being with us. i wanted to talk with you for quite some time. you have an extensive, extensive business background. and you can agree that deciding to pay some bills but not others while you wait to scrap